


life is a road (this is the start)

by potahtopotato



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 07:17:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14159613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potahtopotato/pseuds/potahtopotato
Summary: The Marauders' story doesn't start on the train or during the Sorting Feast. Rather, it starts in detention on the second day of the year with a fight (and with two secret smiles).





	life is a road (this is the start)

This is not, Remus reminds himself, the worst thing that could have happened. He could have been discovered as a werewolf, thrown out of the train, attacked by the Giant Squid, set on fire during the start of the year feast, or been brutally murdered by Peeves. He could have been sorted into Slytherin, Turned in the Great Hall as a result of some strange allergic reaction, or been laughed out of the castle when he tried to enter.

Instead, he's in detention with James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew on the second day of the term, wondering how he could have possibly screwed up this badly. Remus looks up from his own work to find that two of the other three boys are busy scrubbing the tops of desks while the third looks on with a haughty expression.

"You going to help us or not, mate?" James asks, wiping his brow and glaring at Sirius, who shrugs, elegantly, and raises an eyebrow.

"I don't think so. Why?"

"Well, it's your own fault that we're here in the first place, so a little help while we suffer  _your_  punishment would be greatly appreciated."

"Noted."

James appears to be unsure of how to respond to that; he settles for scowling and scrubbing harder at a particularly stubborn spot. Remus can feel another fight brewing, and he really doesn't want to be in the room when it happens.

"Why don't we just do the work," Peter offers, apparently in silent agreement with Remus. "We can point fingers and assign blame all day, but we can't leave until the room is, quote unquote, spotless, and if we all work together we can finish faster."

Sirius snorts, and James rolls his eyes.

"Blacks don't work with blood-traitors and peasants."

"Yeah, and  _I_  don't work with stuck-up gits who start fights in the middle of the Great Hall and get three other people blamed for them!"

"I was jumped by my cousin!" Sirius finally seems to be getting angry. "What was I supposed to do, let her hit me?"

"Oh, I don't know, how about figuring out your inbred family politics on your own time?"

"You're one to talk about inbreeding,  _Potter_. Your family's been marrying their first cousins for generations."

James and Sirius are standing up now, fists clenched and jaws tight. The argument is only moments away from devolving into a physical confrontation, and Remus is only moments away from getting detention for the next month.

"I'm surprised you even know that; did you pay someone else to learn it for you?"

Remus feels an elbow in his side, and when he turns he sees Peter tilting his head meaningfully at the door.

They both glance at James and Sirius, who are oblivious to the world around them, both intent on spitting out insults faster than the other. Remus nods, and he and Peter pad over to the door as quietly as they can, turning the knob as though it's made of glass.

Out in the corridor, Peter grins at Remus, who smiles back, impressed.

"Good thinking back there, getting out," Remus says, and then stops talking because why would Peter care about what he has to say?

But Peter, rather than ignoring or laughing at him, straightens up a few inches.

"Thanks," he says, and they smile at each other again, and Remus thinks that maybe—just maybe—Hogwarts won't be all that miserable after all.


End file.
